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One of the most important components in a business, if not the most important, is having excellent customer service. When you go into business for your self, your main purpose must be to serve people in the field you have chosen. By the same token it is important that your employees, regardless of their position, have excellent customer service as a priority.
I am not saying that the customer is always right, because that is certainly not the case. When a potential customer, or even a current customer is rude and disrespectful to employees of the business, it is best to either fire that customer, or to not do business at all with the disrespectful potential customer. This is to ensure that your employees feel like you “have their back” and most importantly, that you respect them above making a buck.
Assuming you’re dealing with established customers or potential customers, having excellent customer service is key; particularly if they are repeating customers! It is far more expensive to try to acquire new customers than to keep the ones you have happy. Being in a city where there are many options for people to choose from, it is imperative that you make your customers feel like they’re your main priority.
I recently had somewhat negative experiences, both on the same day, with two companies that I had used before for home renovations; one being a plumbing company, and another a countertop/tiling contractor.
The first one happened with a plumber that I had previously used on three different occasions, so naturally I messaged them again to get some work done on a bathroom I am renovating at home. I received a message after an hour saying that he would call me back in the afternoon. So far so good, except I never got a call back; not in the afternoon, not even the day after. Doing what you say you will do, shows your customers that you value them, their time and their business, most importantly, keeping your word, in something as simple as returning a phone call or calling when you say you will, shows your customers that you are trustworthy and dependable.
Understandably, everybody is busy, and it is easy to forget appointments, to forget to reply to emails, and to forget to call back. At the same time, we have so much technology around us all the time, and it only takes 5 seconds to set a reminder to do something later.
My suggestion is that if you tell a customer that you will do something later, immediately set a reminder on your phone to do whatever you said you’d do when you promised you’d do it. When the reminder comes up, do it right away! It is one very simple task you can set for yourself that will keep customers happy.
The second negative experience I had with the countertop and tiling contractor, which again, I had already used twice before. I’m interested in installing a new backsplash in my kitchen, so naturally I called the contractor I had already used before to do the job. I was also contemplating changing the countertops.
I received a message from the contractor later the same day telling me that he is sorry, but he can’t do the work. He told me that he bought a new property himself and is currently very busy with the shop (I’m assuming that would be his business) and with his new property.
Why would he refuse my business? Perhaps the job is too small and not worth it for him, perhaps he didn’t have a positive experience when he did work at my house before, or perhaps he is fully booked and just not able to accommodate a new job in a short period of time. All perfectly good reasons for not wanting to take on a job/customer. However, a better way of dealing with a customer (especially a recurring customer like I was in that situation) would be to keep it short and professional, and perhaps provide a reference for another contractor that could possibly do the job. For example: “I am sorry, but I am currently booked for the next X months, and I am not able to do the job in the time frame you require. However, I know the owners of companies abc and xyz and they may be able to help you out sooner.”
The difference with an answer like that would have been that I would have actually felt like he cared about my business, and that even if it wasn’t his company doing the work, he would help me find someone competent and that he himself would trust to do the job.
Now, I will most likely not try to hire his company in the future. If I ever need those services again, I will keep my options open and probably find other suppliers to get competing quotes, whereas before I would have just gone to his company and paid what I was quoted.
While I am just a small customer, what would happen if more customers and even much bigger customers start feeling like it’s time to try someone else? It is very hard to build a loyal customer base, but unfortunately, it is very easy to lose it.
